Subaru stops production in Thailand, car prices in Vietnam are affected

According to Autolife Thailand, the Tan Chong Subaru Thailand (TCSAT) joint venture will stop producing cars in the Southeast Asian country from the end of this year. After this time, Subaru cars sold in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia will be imported from Japan.

Most recently, on May 28, the TCSAT factory announced that it would lay off all employees and stop assembling cars before December 30. It is currently unclear whether the factory will be sold or leased to another unit.

The reason for this move is said to come from Subaru car sales in Thailand not being as expected. The Japanese car company officially entered the Thai market in 2011, but it was not until 2019 that the Tan Chong Subaru joint venture opened an assembly plant in this country.

The factory targets an output of 6,000 vehicles per year and has a maximum capacity of 100,000 vehicles per year. However, Subaru's sales in Thailand have never reached the target output level.

At the time the new factory started operating, Subaru achieved record sales in Thailand, but only at 3,952 units. This number continuously decreased in the following years and by 2023, it was only 1,682 units.

Subaru's sales in Thailand peaked in 2019 but then continued to decline in the following years.

The situation will get worse in 2024. Accordingly, in the first 4 months of this year, Subaru's sales in Thailand were only 344 units. Expected sales for the whole year of 2024 are forecast to be even below 1,000 units due to fierce competition from Chinese car manufacturers while other international brands are also constantly renewing products and lowering prices to stimulate demand.

The TCSAT plant in Thailand is Subaru's third plant outside of Japan, following the first plant in Indiana, USA and the second plant in Segambut, Malaysia. However, according to Autolife Thailand, the Malaysian plant had previously stopped assembling Subaru vehicles and switched to assembling other brands.

Subaru's decision to stop producing cars in Thailand has a direct impact on the Vietnamese market. The reason is that Subaru's main product in Vietnam, the Forester, is imported from Thailand, while the remaining models, including the Outback, WRX and BRZ, are all imported from Japan.

In Vietnam, Forester is the only Subaru model imported from Thailand.

Thus, from 2025, Subaru Forester sold in Vietnam will be imported from Japan again as before 2019. Importing from Japan means that this model will be subject to high import taxes.

If all taxes and fees are included, the car price will also increase significantly. In the past, before switching to Thailand, Forester imported from Japan cost from 1.445 - 1.666 billion VND. This number is much higher than the current price, fluctuating between 969 million - 1.199 billion VND.